Eggs
Date: 2013
Size: 300mm x 300mm x 400mm
Materials: Paper, Plastic, Wood, Plaster, etc.
Tools: Rhino, Grasshopper, Laser Cutter, CNC Router, Vacuum Former, Table Saw, etc.
Location: California College of the Arts, San Francisco, USA and Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia
Description: During these three academic studios at CCA and Bond University, the initial phase focused on developing a body of research on specific ways of making. Too often, intensive thinking about making only comes at the end of the design process. In these studios we first developed experimental ways of making an object at full scale. These objects have no site or program, they are simply devices that allow our minds and hands to learn new skills, work with potentially unfamiliar materials, and make with a fresh perspective. Through this way of working, it is hoped that we will move beyond site and program as the sole generators of architectural concepts.
In order to better compare various materials and techniques, the studios pursued this project through one abstract form: the egg. The form was chosen for very specific reasons: it is non-orthogonal, complexly curved, and offers a number of difficult design and fabrication problems due to its size and singularities. That is, it is simply a form that is not intuitively easy to make in any one material or using any one technique. The form invites experimentation while resonating with the promise of a new beginning.
Each student was tasked with constructing five objects of roughly the same size and shape over four weeks. Students, in the design and fabrication of each egg, needed to include both digital and physical aspects. For some techniques, the balance between these two ways of designing and making was more on one side or the other. For example, a 3D printed egg might only involve 2% physical making and 98% digital making. Other processes were the opposite.
For the first two eggs, the students were asked to experiment widely with different techniques. As they gained more knowledge and skill, as well as see the variety of different techniques being used in the studio, they begin to develop a strategy for the design and fabrication of the final three eggs that was specific to their particular research interest.
Credits: Ji Ahn, Maria Araujo, Nathan Booth, Vanessa Carvalho, Logan Kelly, Shawn Komlos, Ali Marsh, Rena Montero, Medi Nikseresht, Anthony Quivers, Gry Taraldhagen, Hugh Vanho, Jason Vereschak, Brendan Williams, Alex Woodhouse, Jacob Alexander, Eduardo Dana, Prairna Gupta, Elitza Ivanova, Tyler Jones-Powell, Bianca Koch, Bryan Loza, Joshua Rauch, Darshini Shah, Dustin Tisdale, Xiaopu Wang, Leah Zaldumbide, Dane Asmussen, Amoz Boon, Scott Deppeler, Nikki Freeman, Joel Hutchines, Andrew Morris, Jordan Mulherin, Michael Parsons, Jarryd Pearson, Joao Douglas Ramos, Emma Raunik, Dylan Robinson, Collette Skinner, Rory Spence, Megan Stuart, Dan Wood